Deep and Wide Day 19 // Love Builds a Roof

THE LOST ARE FOUND / THE FOUND ARE FREED / THE FREED ARE CONNECTED / THE CONNECTED ARE COMMISSIONED

19th May // Connected – Day 19 // Love Builds a Roof

Reading – 1 Corinthians 13

A few years ago in the midst of one of our Northern Irish winters our very old roof took a bit of a battering. Afterwards it was leaking everywhere. Both our family and our possessions were facing the elements that we were once protected from. A few thousand pounds and a new roof later we were all tucked back up safe inside again. My roof had been doing its job for years, but it wasn’t until it was gone that I appreciated just how crucial it was to our family’s well being.

In 1 Corinthians 13, one of the most well known passages in the Bible, we find this verse

Love BEARS all things. (v7)

When I read that verse in the past it conjured up images of something beneath me, bearing me up, supporting me from beneath, but actually when you look at the original Greek a very different picture emerges. The word ‘bears’ is from the Greek word ‘stegei’ meaning roof. All of a sudden this verse takes on a whole new meaning. The writer is telling us that love builds a roof over our heads. Love covers us when all of the raging elements crash down threatening to destroy us. Love takes the brunt of the storm so that we can stay tucked up safe under it, so that we can still stand in the midst of the storm.

Now take all of this knowledge and place it in the context of Corinthians. The chapter before contains the teaching on the body of Christ, how we are all connected and in deep need of one another. Then follows this command to love one another and this description of what love looks like. Our love for one another builds a roof over us. When satan sends a storm to try and take us out the love we have for one another, our connection to each other, protects us from the driving force of his gale. Love, deep healthy connection to others in the body, keeps us safe during the trials of life and from the work of the enemy.

Ecclesiastes 4:12 Though one can be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A threefold cord is not easily broken.

I encourage you again today to make sure you are connected to the body because the body builds a roof that keeps you safe. We are always better together.